It's Always Night
by Miyiku
Summary: The only thing I noticed was her hand entwined with mine, and I closed my eyes, trying to imagine how things would turn out when the time had passed. And my mind was flooded with the picture of a young lady with pale skin and raven hair." TOKKA.


**Hello! I'm very excited! I'm posting my second english fanfic (althrough I wrote this one in november...). I must say this is a series of drabbles, in chronological order about Toph and Sokka. Sometimes is in Sokka's POV and sometimes in third person. I hope this wouldn't bother you. **

**Thanks a lot to 3VAD127 for being my beta I owe you a lot of cookies!**

**Finally, The material possession are just an ilusion. I don't own Avatar: TLA or any of its characters. And I don't own the song "It's always night", it belongs to Alejandro Sanz. **

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**"It's Always Night."**

**Tell me how the sun is falling**

**While you talk****,**** I'll think**

**How beautiful you are, I'm lucky to be**

**The half of a fairytale at dusk**

**That I'm watching while hearing you**

**Because my eyes are your voice**

"_Sokka… __it__ is getting late…"_ I looked at Toph, who was waiting for me above a boulder where I was training. She seemed tired, but she had been sitting there for several hours nevertheless. This was her first complaint.

"_Hey… tell me__,_" I said, wiping away the sweat on my forehead, "_h__ow do you know that __it's__ late? I know you've been __sitting__ there for a while, but I don't know how you __can__ figure out what time it is."_

"_It feels warmer, and the air is rarefied. I can feel the sun in my face and not __on__ my head. And I can feel the cold night's breeze __on__ my back."_ She was swinging her legs and dangling them over the rock. Her little toes were all dirty and covered in mud, the same as her face. I smiled and walked toward her, sitting in front of her.

"_Sokka__,__ did you __finish__ your training?"_

"_Yes__.__ What's the hurry?"_

"_Nothing, really__. What would you like to do?"_

"_I want to hear you."_ She made a funny face and sighed. I smiled. "_Tell __me about __yourself,__" _I requested_._ She tangled her hair between her fingers, and she smiled.

"_I like to run… And I love cherries."_ The twilight was turning into night as I continued to listen. She laughed, and I couldn't stop watching her.

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**Get closer to me**** because when we're skin against skin,**

**My hands will make a picture of you**

**Your aroma will tell me your age**

**By your side, not knowing why**

**Surely it would be written all over my face**

**The glow of an illusion**

**Because at your side, I can forget...**

I didn't see her getting closer, and she sat behind me, putting her back against mine. She was so warm and distant at the same time. My gaze went from the campsite to the Moon above us. I felt Toph sighing against my back and whispering something I couldn't understand.

"_What did you __say__?"_

"_Do you see me as a little girl?"_

"_You__ are__ a little girl."_ I heard another sigh; a very resigned one. _"What's the matter?"_

"_You think I'm a little girl."_

I saw her tiny hand run over the cool earth, and I put my hand over hers. It was so small... I rubbed her pale skin with my dark thumb, thinking and meditating.

"_Time keeps going forward__,_" I answered without thinking. "_You'll grow up and turn into a beautiful woman." _ Surprised by my own words, I turned to face her, my eyes accidentally meeting her wide open and characteristic ones. Her usually white cheeks had turned a cute bright red. A little trace of a smile crossed her features.

"_I'm pretty good at waiting."_

"_I know. And good things take time._" I didn't know how to feel. The only thing I noticed was her hand entwined with mine, and I remembered closing my eyes, trying to imagine how things would turn out when that time had passed. And my mind was flooded with the picture of a young, beautiful lady with pale skin and raven hair.

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**Because for me****,****it ****is always night**

**But this night is like**** twilight**

**If you can ****show it in your**** life**

**Your eyes will be the ones that will shine**

**And the Moon can be erased**

**Because in my eternal darkness**

**The sky has a name: your name**

**What ****I wouldn't**** give to see you**

**At least for just a moment**

Sokka found her curled in the corner of one of the remote rooms in the Western Air Temple. Her tears had made a trail from her eyes down her cheeks, and her nose was red. She was sobbing.

"_What's the matter, Toph?" _He received no answer. Sokka moved closer to her and put his hand softly on her shoulder. She startled and swiped his hand away from her.

"'_What's the matter'?! It's you. You don't talk to me, you don't like to be with me, __and__ you don't look at me anymore."_ Remembering, Sokka recalled exactly how little attention he had payed to the earthbender since he came back from the Boiling Rock. It was true; he didn't know how she was doing, how she was feeling. He looked at her feet and saw that they were almost healed from the burns Zuko had given her. He felt sorry for the time he had wasted.

"_Hey… I'm so sorry about making you feel bad."_

"_No! You're not sorry__;__you've just__ forgotten me."_

"_I would never forget you. And I would never lie to you."_ Sokka had seen his best friend sad before, but this time was different. There was something else about the girl crying and sobbing in front of him. She wasn't a friend anymore. She was something else. And when he saw another tear fall from Toph's pale eyes, something inside Sokka's heart shattered, though he had no idea what it was. _"Hey… look at me and tell me if you think I'm capable of __lying__ to you." _

"_Moron! How can you make fun of me __like__ that?!"_ Toph was about to slap him, but Sokka held her wrist before she could hit him.

"_No…__ Please look at me."_ Sokka put Toph's hand on the blue shirt that covered his chest, right above his heart. His heartbeats were strong, intense, but at the same time, unhurried and cautious, as if he was in doubt or uncertain; but they were full of sincerity. _"I would never lie to you, Toph."_ Sokka embraced her, burying his nose in her hair, breathing in the dirt that usually covered her body and feeling that whatever had shattered inside him was merging together again, little by little.

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**It's cold****,**** and it's getting late****,**** and you have to come back home**

**There's someone waiting for you, for sure**

**Again****,**** the time ****flew by**

**Will you come back? Tell me if you're going to return**

**As you have done every sundown**

**To tell me how the day is dying.**

"_Are you sure you wanna stay here?"_ I looked at Toph's parents who were waiting at the house door, seemingly excited and happy for the return of their daughter.

"_I have to__," _she replied._ "They're my parents__,__ and I've missed them."_ She held my hand strongly, but I could only think about how much I was going to miss her. It had only been a year since she had escaped from that house and had come with us; only a year since we had been chased by her parents, who wanted her back at their home. And now she was a part of me, as much as the cold waters of the Southern Pole and my fighting spirit. This time, I was the one seizing her hand.

"_Toph…_" I hugged her against my side, putting my arm around her shouders. I was shaking, but I wasn't nervous or cold; it was from that feeling I couldn't recognize. "_Could I come over and visit you __sometime__?_" I was about to burst into tears. I watched her as she stood by my side, and she frowned.

"_I think you're going to be busy returning to your village or paying a visit to Kyoshi's warriors._" It wasn't a supposition; it was a statement. I kissed her forehead and sighed.

"_I'll never be so busy that I couldn't have time for you._" She smiled softly and threw a punch at my ribs.

"_Thanks…_" Her hand held mine one last time, and she started to drift away from me. She ran until she reached her parents and hugged them, laughing and smiling. And I felt that old fracture in my chest getting bigger. Still, that little distance between us was hurting me. It was as bitter as my mother's death, as devastating as my father's departure, and as sad as Yue's last kiss. And in order to make that distance even bigger, I turned around and left without noticing the tears of sadness Toph was shedding while hugging her parents and feeling my steps getting further from her.

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**And she left, she drifted away from him**

**But like in ****a ****letter, colon, P.S.**

**I forgot to introduce myself**

**I was only a witness by chance**

**Until he suddenly asked me****,**

"**She ****is ****beautiful****, isn't she?****"**

"**More than the Moon****,****" I answered****,**** and he smiled**

Time passed by with that naturalness that turns shoots into trees, cubs into beasts, and kids into men, and Sokka went to search for the fire lord, still confused and missing Toph more than he would admit. He needed that best friend that wasn't a best friend anymore, that girl who shattered his heart and could repair it in a way he just couldn't understand. After a couple of alcoholic drinks (in Zuko's case anyway; Sokka took his share tenfold), both of them, now men, were in one of the several halls of the Fire Palace. Zuko was listening patiently to his friend's story as he described how he had spent the latter years traveling around the world and serving his tribe.

"_I miss her so much…_" said Sokka, immersed in the pale green color of the tea in his cup. He gave it a last sip to finish off both the beverage and the headache caused by his previous drinks.

"_You were the one who didn't __go and__ visit her during the first year__,"_ the fire lord answered serenely.

"_Do you think I gave up on looking for her? Do you think I stopped searching __for __her and asking for her? It seems like she is running away from me…"_

"_You never found out, __did__ you? She never __told__ you…"_ Sokka looked at his friend with a mix of alcoholic turmoil and sudden realization. His face writhed in a grimace, and that old fracture appeared in his chest again.

"_What are you talking about? What __didn't she tell__ me?!_" Zuko's silence and serene look told everything to the Southern warrior. And reality hit him as hard as Toph used to. In only a couple of seconds, that formless feeling that was within him before the Great War crystallized into that vision of a beautiful woman with white skin and dark hair; it formed from his need of her presence and the pain of her departure. "_For the spirits__'__ sake! I'm… I'm an idiot, Zuko…" _ And so, the legendary war hero, the strategy genius, the Wolf of the South embraced his brother, the fire lord, and cried.

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**And ****he wouldn't make any reproach**

**For trying to have a sunset**

**He would never get lost again in the night**

**Because his soul ****was**** now brighter than**

**A million**** suns**

**But in his eternal darkness**

**Sometimes you can hear him, sometimes**

"**What ****I wouldn't**** give to see you**

**at least for just a moment"**

Ironically, Sokka searched for Toph for months, only to find out that during that time, Toph had returned home. He found her curled in the corner of one of the several rooms in the Bei Fongs' luxurious house. And although she had turned into that vision that invaded Sokka's mind years ago, there, curled up was his little Toph, the one with the tiny hands and dirt-covered hair.

"_You know_,_ I didn't forget you…" _he said as he approached the earthbender. _"And you know I wouldn't lie to you."_

"_I know__,__ but… Why?"_ There was no retort in Toph's voice, only curiosity and a bit of sadness. This time, there were no tears on her face, but the picture was the same: a little girl who was mad at her friend because he spent more time with another person. But now, she had turned into a woman who was mad at her friend for being only friends. He got closer to her and sat down in front of her, just like that first time at the foot of the boulder. He brushed away the locks of hair that hid her milky eyes and sighed.

"_I'm so sorry…"_ he said, and she sobbed.

"_Let me see you and know that you're telling me the truth._" Toph extended her hand in front of her. Sokka took it, still tiny and soft, and placed it over his chest. She smiled.

"_Tell me what you wanted to __say__… The things __that you've kept__ in your heart for so long,"_ implored Sokka, ripping away the silence between them. He saw her open her eyes wide, and he also saw the brightest and most evil smile ever begin to form at the corner of her lips.

"_I… liked you… I loved you." _Sokka remained silent as the doubt piled up inside Toph. Her hand could feel the warrior's heartbeats, and just like last time so many years ago, his beats were intense but unhurried.

"_And… do you still love me?" _She nodded shyly. "_Please… tell me that's __the truth__."_

"_Look at me and tell me if I'm capable of lying to you__,"_ she said. Sokka closed his eyes and put one of his hands softly against Toph's cheek. He started to caress her face with a gentle touch, feeling each feature and expression. "_What are you doing?!_"

"_I'm looking at you __with__ the same eyes you use to see me__,"_ he said, softly touching Toph's forehead. She smiled and allowed him to trace her face. She moved her hand from Sokka's chest to his closed eyes, mimicking the strokes she was feeling over her skin. _"You're just like the vision I had so many years ago… You're beautiful."_

Sokka stopped caressing Toph's cheek, and without opening his eyes, he pulled her closer... and kissed her.

"**What ****I wouldn't**** give to see you****,**

**at least for just a moment****."**

**-Alejandro Sanz**

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**Thanks a lot for reading. I would apreciate criticism and reviews, either good or bad, I really love feedback. **

**P.S: In the spanish version this is a tribute to FriendlyMushroom. The same goes for this version. :3**


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